Sister and Mom Visit day 2 and 3 ( pigs, poo and penicillin)

Well day two started out innocent enough.  Daebo ( our family word for grandma) went out for a leisurely coffee break with her granddaughter.  They talked about all sorts of things, and had a wonderful time.

Later in the evening, and by evening I mean total darkness of about 8:30 pm, we all went out to the Farm to help load the hogs for slaughter the next morning.  We had to get 2- 300 lb hogs cut from a herd of 3 out of the pen, then into a chute, up a ramp, over a gaping chasim, and into the bed of a pick up truck with a stock rack on it.  Yeah...  It all works perfectly in the mind.... and you pray you can execute your plan without killin a hog or worse hurting one of the humans in the operation.

We got there and Mr. Antos had the truck backed up to the chute, rack on and a couple of boards to block  the gap between the chute and the tailgate of the truck.  Tayler is poised and ready to jump in the pen with the hogs and get 'em up the ramp....  Mr. Antos is still thinking....  I am sure he had variables of death and dismemberment on his mind.  All the little kids, of which there were 7,  plus my sister, are perched on top of the rails of the hog pen, waiting to cheer everyone on... it conjures up images of gladiators being cheered on in the Roman Coliseums....  I took up residence against the board that was on the passenger side of the truck to keep it from being knocked down, as if I was going to stop a 300 lb pig....

Mom, who had been passively watching down on the ground on my side of the truck, pipes up as a volunteer when Mr. Antos asks for one....  she climbed up on the truck to hold the other wooden panel... and a teeny, tiny keychain light so the hog could see where to go.  As she is climbing up onto the truck, you hear a bit of worry in Mr. Antos' voice, as he cautions her not to do anything that is gonna break her....  Tayler is working the chute door... and she an Mr. A have their pig code worked out....  ok goes up the chute.... NO NO NO, gets let back into the pen....

Let the games begin..............

Now that we are all at our posts....  He goes in to shoo a pig into the chute.... easier said than done....   Mrs. A goes in too,  after a bit of butt slapping ( the pigs butt )  and yee hawin'.... the pig is cut from her friends and up the chute she goes....into the truck, and we slam the rack down so she doesn't get out.
Now comes the fun part....  get hog two in while not letting hog one OUT!...  have I mentioned we are talking about pissed off 300 lb pigs?
Mr. A, climbs into the stock rack, and closes the door.... not sure which inspired that move.... desperation or insanity... and tries to "block" the hog off with a little ole' piece of MDF board.  Let's just say it didn't work.  and he climbed back out, before the hog got MORE pissed.
So we are back trying to get hog two..... This one is more illusive.  Tay gets down from her job at the chute door, and is replaced by Steven....  She is now in the pen with Mr and Mrs A..... chasing down a hog.  There is now a hush over the crowd, as they watch to see what will happen with three humans vs 2 hogs.....  they get the one they want cornered.... by the way, a cornered 300 lb hog isn't a happy hog....  and she tries to bolt.  Tayler had a feed bucket in her hand, and she wrangled that thing  holding it's head in the feed bucket.... she actually held her own with that hog for a good minute... it was a sight to see your fourteen year old wrastlin' a pig, and winning, even if it was for just a minute.  So after 3 more tries we get the right pig in the chute, and loaded up.... my mom hanging on for dear life as the hog makes the truck dip.... valiantly holding her little pen light on so we could see.  I think the best thing overall was the sound mom and sis made when the hog turned to POO upon all who had placed it in this contraption.... and then Kelly trying to keep someone from inadvertantly touching it.... (never mind the fact they had been walking in goat poo, and chicken poo for the last 45 min.....)  was hilarious!

After an eventful close to day two, we woke up to an equally climatic day 3....
We got a call from Mrs Antos at 7 in the morning that Taylers goat was going down.  She had delivered two kids two days before, and now she was weak and not wanting to eat much.  So we were told to bring pop bottles for feeding, pepto bismol for bloating, and the milk concoction for the babies if we couldn't save mama.  I am sure the woman at Winco thought we were plum crazy with Milk, Buttermilk, two 20 oz pops and Pepto on the belt.... but to her credit she didn't even show a glimmer of humor as she scaned our items.

We got to the Farm about 8:30 am, and Tay went to work.  They drew penicillin shots for her, mixed an emergency paste for her to eat to keep her stomach working right, and encourage her to eat.  They went out to tend to the goats, I stayed in with the human kids in the house.  I love the farm life, but I am NOT so good with the animals, like Mrs. Antos.  So I do what I can and keep the little kids out of everyone's hair so they can do the hard work.  It is all farm work, I just know my place is in the farmHOUSE.  They worked until about 11 with the sick goat the babies and then the regular chores.  I left Tayler there to help give more meds to her goat... and went home to mom and Kelly who were home with all the kids here.

We decided to go to Chuck E Cheese, to get out of the house, and becuase it was too windy to go to the park.  The place was really empty, except for us, and I can actually say a trip to Chuck E Cheese was relaxing.

We finished off the day with some mother daughter bonding over a tub of depilatory wax.  It was good times for sure!

Can't wait to see what is gonna happen today.